death of hope

Chapter 69 "Flying Windfall" (69) The Burning Block
Come outside, as if in purgatory,

Sparks and ash wafted in the air, and there was a pungent burnt smell.

Shops, cars, trash cans, no one was spared, and the entire block was burning.

Downey complained: "It's so hot, I'm sweating all over when I came out, is it necessary to dress like this?"

"Stop talking nonsense, fat man, take it off as you like, your fat body can't stop a gun."

A group of shirtless thugs approached menacingly, carrying machetes and baseball bats in their hands, and the leading burly man held a pistol,

When he got closer, he couldn't help slowing down when he saw the equipment of everyone.

Especially the military electromagnetic sniper rifle in the hands of the black cat, which is full of deterrence. Because they ran into a corporate soldier, this group of people took a detour and walked away to find other people's troubles instead.

"Damn it! My car was also burned!" Roy scolded, stomping his feet.

"It doesn't matter, just steal another one." Black Cat blurted out.

"Steal?" Dragonfly muttered, "It's unbelievable, is this what the righteous superhero Black Cat said?"

"It's really not appropriate, so I'll change the word to 'requisition'."

"That sounds better, but the cars around here are either burned or have punctured tires, so they can't be driven at all."

"Then look in another block."

Unknowingly, perhaps relying on instinct, everyone walked to the familiar old place and saw the scene they least wanted to see.

Roy took a deep breath: "Obviously, this is a warning, and the other party has already come to the door."

The old lame bar in the depths of the dark alley is burning, and the simple neon signs have been charred and deformed.

Through the smashed iron shutter door, you can see the overturned cash register inside, the jukebox smashed by iron bars, the burning bar, wine rack, seats, and broken glass all over the floor.

Burning together with the bar are precious memories, and the laughter of the past seems to be echoing in the ears.

Crackling, the flames are getting hotter and hotter.

The flames swept through hundreds of classic records, devoured retro gramophones, and burned into everyone's heart.

"It's a shame we should have taken those records, they're all out of print."

Ferguson was afraid that the old man would be sad, so he persuaded:
"It doesn't matter. What kind of vinyl records are you listening to? The sound quality is so poor. You can listen to them if you download them from the Internet."

Old Jon showed disgust in his eyes: "Download the song, can it mean the same thing?"

The orange fire light was reflected on the gray beard, and Old Jon was like a deflated ball, his words were full of exhaustion:

"Forget it...forget it. I'm old and I can't work anymore. If I burn it, I'll burn it. It's time to retire."

The black cat said: "Don't you think that this bar was dirty and dilapidated when it opened, but now it has become beautiful."

"That's the way it is, girl, but I just can't bear it."

The flames engulfed the entire building, watching the memories of the past turned into ashes, no matter how strong a man is, it is inevitable to sigh:
"Miss Susan is right. This broken bar has never been so beautiful. The Mona Lisa is more beautiful than the Mona Lisa. Destruction is an art."

Seeing Old Jon's sad expression, Downey couldn't bear it, and persuaded:
"There's nothing to miss, old man. There's always water and power outages in this crappy place. If the old ones don't go, the new ones won't come."

Ferguson echoed: "Yes! It should have been burned long ago! When everything is calm, let's rent another place and continue working!"

"At that time we will continue to work for you!"

Looking at these children whom he had grown up with, the veteran was a little relieved:

"It's enough to have your words, I didn't hurt you bastards for nothing."

"Let's start over again. I still have gold bricks here. It's more than enough to buy a bottom dealer." Roy said: "The most important thing is safety. If you keep the green hills, you don't have to worry about running out of firewood."

"Let's go and look around the streets to see if there are any cars that can start."

A fat lady walked towards her and shouted loudly as if she had encountered a life-saving straw:

"Mister Jon?"

"It's me, what's the matter, Aunt Sonny, you should hide at home."

Facing old neighbors, veterans are always patient and courteous.

"I can't help it. Our little granddaughter has been hungry all day. I have to go out and get something to eat. Hey, it turned out that the trip was for nothing. By the way, please hurry up and help, there are people who need help over there."

"what happened?"

"There was a little boy lying under the street lamp at the corner of the east alley. I saw blood around me, so I didn't dare to go there."

"Let's go and have a look. You can go home quickly, Aunt Sonny, it's not safe outside. Here's some bread and milk for you."

"I'm relieved to have you here." Before leaving, the fat aunt said gratefully: "Mr. Jon, you are the patron saint of the neighborhood. life and death!"

After 3 minutes, everyone found the boy around the corner.

"It's nothing serious. He was stunned by the beer bottle. His skull was fine, but his flesh was injured. He fell here and passed out."

"Oh my god, there's blood all over my head...how cruel! You hit a child so hard!"

Roy helped the boy up and took a closer look. It turned out to be Dixon, a pony boy from the neighborhood gang "Black Command".

The life of this child is very hard, and his parents are both disabled. It is only thanks to the help of the neighbors that he will not starve to death.

He is a sensible little guy who wants to work hard to support his family. Since he was 11 years old, he has been running errands for gang members, doing chores such as cleaning, buying cigarettes, delivering goods, and earning a little money to subsidize his family.

"Hi, little Dixon, are you all right?"

"Ro... brother Roy... I'm fine... just a little dizzy."

Anna came over and took the boy's hand:

"It's chaotic outside, why don't you stay at home, why come out?"

"Someone broke into the house and shot mom and dad... They wanted to know where Boss Robert was and I ran and ran and got caught and beat me up."

"My God... Poor kid..." Anna unscrewed a bottle of juice to feed him.

The boy regained consciousness a little: "Brother Roy...I think they are looking for you."

Roy's heart skipped a beat: "What do those people wear?"

"Purple cardigan shirt, loose-fitting black and white striped trousers, and brown pointed-toe shoes."

"It's from the Hessian family, the running dog of the raccoon business." Old Jon said:
"What they want is a chip, and they followed the clues of the box of money to find our block, and want to find your location through Robert."

Roy was extremely remorseful: "It's all my fault... for killing the neighbors, hurry up and go to Robert's place to have a look."

"Come on, everyone, turn on the safety of the gun and stay alert."

Settling boy Dixon into a well-meaning neighbor's home, the gang moves on.

There is an abandoned warehouse here, which is the base camp of the local gang Black Command. It has been completely demolished at the moment, with all the windows smashed and corpses lying inside and outside the building.

Others were guarding with guns outside. Ferguson and Dragonfly entered the small building to check, and walked out after a while:
"The other party did not survive. The whole gang was taken over in one pot. Robert died in the office and his body was torn to pieces."

"It's terrible." Anna covered her mouth.

"You'd better not go in and look, you'll vomit."

"Your legs are shaking, it's not like you."

"Perhaps." Dragonfly Man said to the black cat with a terrified expression on his face:

"We masked vigilantes should be familiar with this kind of scene, but well, this time it feels very bad,

The intestines of the corpse had all been pulled out, and there were traces of teeth gnawing on the muscles. It didn't seem like a human being could do it, but it looked like some kind of mutated monster was at work. "

(End of this chapter)